Well the LVO has come and gone and I’m back in the UK (although my brain is still somewhere over the Atlantic!).

Long story short, I had a great time. All my games were fun, all my opponents were good guys, and I had a blast. Vegas is as horrible as ever, but my brother and I found some amazing restaurants, and spent more time together in 3 days than we have in the last 2 years. All in all, a great trip.

There was only one small, niggly issue …… it was singularly unsuccessful from a gaming perspective!

In preparation for the LVO I had concluded that Orks, Multiple Knights and Ynarri were bad match ups. I played 2 Ork lists, 2 lists with Multiple Knights, and a Ynarri list (the 6th list was pure Guard which I beat relatively easily). I managed to win one of the games against Orks, but lost the others. So, while I was hoping to go 4-2, in the end I went 2-4.

My first game was a victory against Orks. I reserved the Ravagers, Vected Grot Shields and killed the Lootas when the Ravagers came in. The rest of the army mopped up the Boyz. Highlight was the Solitaire taking out a unit of Boyz by himself using Suit of Hidden Knives.

Game 2 was against Ynarri. Psykers, Spears, Reapers Wraithguard with Swords a bunch of Rangers. Was a pretty close game. I made the decision to sacrifice a Starweaver and it’s Troupe to tie up the Spears for a turn, allowing me to deal with the Wraithguard. In retrospect that was probably a mistake, as he was able to soulburst away from the wreckage of the Starweaver, and get into position to cause crippling damage next turn, killing the 12 Player Troupe, and then soul bursting into a position from which he was able to charge and kill Ravagers.

Game 3 was against a Castellan, 2 Hellverins and a bunch of Grey Knights. We we’e playing diagonally and he placed his Knights in the furthest away corner. I got turn one, but Ravager shooting put only 4 wounds on a Hellverin (even with Doom), Skyweavers were out of range (Twilight Pathways failed). In return he killed all three Ravagers in one turn of shooting with the Knights, and the Grey Knights mopped up the rest when they came on in his turn 2. To be fair I made a lot of mistakes that game. I was getting tired and my concentration was slipping.

Game 4 was against Orks. Lootas, 3 units of Boyz, a bunch of Gretchin and 3 units of 15 Kommandos. The plan was the same as in the first game (reserve the Ravagers, Vect Grot Shields and kill the Lootas when the Ravagers come in), however, my opponent reserved all three units of Boyz, and all three units of Kommandos. So, with 135 Orks in reserve, I felt I needed the Ravager’s fire power to clear them away, rather than sacrificing them to kill the Lootas. My opponent also had a 5++ from the KFF, and there was a large los blocking terrain piece in the middle of the board that would allow me to bring down the Ravagers where the Lootas couldn’t see them. So. I decided not to target the Lootas, used the two 5 man Troupe Squads as a screen, and brought down the Ravagers out of los, ready to blow away the Boyz when they came down. Which they promptly did. In one round I was able to kill 2 full units of Boyz, and 2 units of Kommandos. However, in doing so I gave up board control and my opponent was able to out score me. In retrospect I should have killed the Lootas, not because they were a direct threat to my army, in the sense that they didn’t really kill much over the game, but they gave him so much board control as they forced me to hide my vehicles all game.

Game 5 was against 3 Renegade Knights with double Gatling guns, and Magnus. There wasn’t enough terrain to hide the Ravagers so I reserved them, but there really wasn’t enough terrain to hide much else either. When he won first turn, and I failed to seize, I knew the game was lost. Magnus warp timed over and killed my Bikes and the Knights killed both Starweavers in turn one. I managed to kill a Knight and Magnus in response, but I was tabled on turn 4. This was my only big loss, the others were reasonably close.

Last game was against pure Guard. Lots of bodies, 3 Russ tank Commanders with Punishers, Manticore and a bunch of Mortars. This was easier. I tabled him turn 5.

So, disappointed in how I/my army performed, but a fun weekend,

Why did I do so badly?

Well, first off, I think I could have won all the games I lost, (with the possible exception of the one against Magnus and the Knights). In game 2, I should have waited until he committed his Spears and dealt with them, rather than being distracted by the Wraitguard. In Game 3 I could have used my redeploy Strat to bring the Skyweavers into range, without the need for Twilight Pathways, but for some reason I didn’t think of that at the time. In game 4 I should have pounded the Lootas with everything I had, which would have allowed me to move around the board more freely. Game 5 was the only game that I’m not sure I could have won. If I had first turn, and any deployment other than Dawn of War…..maybe!

So in a nutshell….poor decision making on my part was the real problem, exacerbated I guess by fatigue and jet lag. In retrospect I should have flown in a few days before. It’s telling that my best performance at LVO (when I went 4-2) was the year I was in town for a week before the event.

But that’s not the only reason – my list was lacking. The big 12 Player Troupe just didn’t pull its weight. In the games against Knights, Ynarri and guard, it was just blown off the table before it did anything significant. In the first game against Orks, it did nothing (it was charged by a mob of Boyz that had come in using Green Tide, and murdered. Only in the second game against Orks that I lost, did it get into combat and wipe out a big unit of Boyz … but it died horribly immediately after that. I would have been far better with another Troupe in a Starweaver. I suspect that it might be more effectively in a dedicated footslogging list, with way more Command Points!

But the main problem was a lack of board presence. I just didn’t have the bodies to hang around on objectives, set up screens and block movement.

So what’s next? Well I think the Harlies will go on the shelf for a few months